Question about options?

Subject: Question about options?
From: "Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 08:53:10 -0400

Gerry Seguin is <<... developing software with various optional modules
which users can purchase to increase the functionality and scope of the
product. We've been told from above that the manual must cover all of the
options, regardless of whether the user has purchased them or not.>>

Although you could certainly label some modules as optional, this isn't
really necessary; among other things, those people who have purchased those
modules won't care (they already have it, so it's not an option for them)
and those who haven't are unlikely ever to notice that there are
instructions for tools they don't use. Consider the number of questions on
techwr-l, for instance, which end up with the original poster writing
"thanks--I never knew that feature even existed, and was in the manual"!
Oddly enough, techwhirlers are sometimes the worst offenders re. not reading
the manual, but we're far from the only ones who turn to the manual only as
a last resort.

Probably the simplest solution in your case is to present all the modules,
as requested, and simply add a note in the "overview" section of the manual
that states "We've created all kinds of other nifty modules you can use;
here's an overview of what else you can do once you purchase those extra
modules. If you don't use those modules, ignore those portions of the text."
(Phrased a little more professionally, of course. <g>) While you're doing
that, you should devote some thought to explaining the relationships between
modules, so that readers will know what they can and can't do with the set
of modules they've actually installed (e.g., "you can print anything you
create using the basic print module, but you can't produce PDF files unless
you purchase the Acrobat module"; "you can't print your database but can't
publish it online unless you buy the database publishing module").

--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
"User's advocate" online monthly at
www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/usersadvocate.html

"The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is
by accident. That's where we come in; we're computer professionals. We cause
accidents."-- Nathaniel Borenstein

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